Manila's double standards

China proposed to the Philippines in 2010 to establish a bilateral mechanism for regular consultations on the maritime issues, and proposed in 2012 to restart the Mechanism of Confidence-Building Measures. In 2013, China offered 3 billion yuan ($476.2 million) to ASEAN for maritime cooperation. So how can Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario claim that the Philippines has "exhausted almost all political and diplomatic avenues" to negotiate a peaceful settlement of its maritime disputes with China?

Without consulting ASEAN, of which the Philippines is a member, Manila made a surprise move by taking China to international arbitration in March. This unilateral initiative also took the other members of ASEAN by surprise.

True, international judicial institutions can serve as third party arbitrators, but only after no settlement has been reached through peaceful means and all the parties concerned agree to seek arbitration.

As early as 2006, China informed the United Nations in a statement that it would not accept arbitration on territorial sovereignty, maritime demarcation and military activities under Article 298 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Manila's unilateral move is a clear breach from the China-ASEAN declaration which stipulates that "the parties concerned undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes through friendly consultations and negotiations".

Negotiating with one country and suing another at court clearly shows that the Philippine government is adopting double standards in handling the territorial disputes it has with its neighbors. Knowing China will not accept arbitration because of the 2006 exemption, the Philippines exhibits the purpose of seizing the "moral high ground" and tarnishing China's image in the world arena.

Such a double-handed approach raises a question about the credibility of the Philippine government which is never shy of pretending to be a victim. But this "victim" is truly not innocent, when its coastguard killed Chinese fishermen from the mainland and Taiwan in 2000, 2006 and 2013.

China has agreed to negotiate a code of conduct in the South China Sea with ASEAN. China could have easily walked away after the Philippines decided to sue it at international tribunal, but China did not. China is still willing to negotiate with the Philippines, Vietnam and other ASEAN members even if this is clearly unfair for China.

On June 10, Aquino said, "our relations (with China) are based on so many more things, not just on this dispute, and that peace and stability are necessary components for our own - for everybody's progress."

If Aquino really wants to mend fences, he knows where to start.

The author is an honorary fellow with Center of China-American Defense Relations, Academy of Military Science.

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